Field of the Invention
This invention relates to preparations that reduce psychological hunger for food substances and other substances that are orally consumed or otherwise orally provided, such as the smoking of tobacco. In particular the invention relates to spray preparations and a method for reducing psychological hunger.
Description of the Related Art
There are many physical reasons why people crave food, the most basic of which is actual hunger and stomach pangs because of lack of eating often enough and insufficient food consumption. For persons who have eaten sufficiently however, there are also often feelings of the need to eat that can be termed “psychological hunger”. Psychological hunger generally occurs when people are bored, and their thoughts turn to food and they eat because it is something to do and is interesting. Psychological hunger also can occur when people are feeling stress, and they feel that their stress can be relieved by eating.
Excessive eating when people are bored or under stress can result in increases in weight, which can become a major problem, especially when they are already overweight or obese. Further, their excessive weight can cause them stress, causing them to eat more and exacerbating the problem. Even when people are on weight loss diets and are able to regulate their eating at mealtimes, psychological stress can cause them to eat more than their diet allows, particularly between meals if they are bored or under stress.
Today obesity is one of the most serious health problems in the United States, with approximately 30% of adults suffering from obesity, and at least 50% of adults in the United States being overweight. The problem of obesity in the United States and most western countries has been steadily increasing in the last several decades. Such obesity has caused or contributed to a marked increase in the occurrence of heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis and increased morbidity and mortality. There is also recent research which links obesity with different types of cancer, particularly breast cancer. Obesity is a serious public health hazard, second in importance only to tobacco. Being overweight reduces lifespan as well as quality of life.
There are many methods suggested for management of obesity and overweight. These include diets that exclude fats and high caloric elements, appetite suppressants, psychotherapeutic techniques and operative techniques. One of the most common methods is the use of stimulants. Amphetamine-like agents act on the brain to reduce the sensation of hunger. Experience indicates that most of the appetite suppressants work for a short period of time, but a few weeks or a few months later they lose most of their potency and patients start regaining weight. There is also a serious problem with the maintenance of a desirable weight after it is achieved, for the simple reason that appetite suppressants cannot be continued indefinitely at full strength.
The reason that most people become overweight is that they consume more nutrition calories than they require, often primarily because of cravings for certain foods, such as chocolate or potato chips. In other words, humans do not only eat to survive, but also eat for the taste, flavor and gratification. The degree of the satiety has changed and is predicated not only the necessary nutritional requirements but also on unphysiological “unnatural” pleasure drive.
The method of Cherkassky (U.S. Pat. No. 8,298,571 B2) provides a product and a treatment method using certain food ingredients in a manner that reduces or eliminates the craving for eating of foods for which the patient wishes to reduce consumption. Such ingredients include but are not limited to margarine, mustard, pepper and salt, preferably applied to the surface of the tongue as a paste, and then the craved substance is administered orally with the paste or with the non-binder components of the paste. Because psychological hunger is often not related to a particular substance craving, there is a need for a composition and method that generally reduces psychological hunger.
Another method of Cherkassky (U.S. Pat. No. 8,323,682) provides a capsular product that preferably contains a cellulose product (preferably METHOCEL E4M 4000™) which has been mixed with ethanol during the preparation of the capsule, and most preferably the capsule also contains a protein product, a spice (e.g., cayenne pepper, mustard), a sweetener (e.g., saccharin), and salt.
The spray method of Cherkassky (co-pending Ser. No. 14/047,420) provides a product and treatment method for reduction or elimination of the psychological hunger for foods for which a patient wishes to reduce consumption, and includes ingredients such as cayenne pepper, alcohol, salt, citric acid and a sweetener such as saccharin, and includes other ingredients that desensitize the taste buds and reduce hunger.
Prior methods (e.g., the method of Belote et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0112149) operate to diminish the desire for food intake by masking or reducing the flavor of foods and/or anesthetize the taste buds.
There is a need for a method that saturates and satisfies the brain of a person by penetrating to the blood through the oral mucosa, and satisfying taste buds.
It is therefore an object of the invention herein to provide a spray composition and method that not only reduces psychological hunger without being targeted toward any particular food cravings, and reduces hunger through oral mucosa penetration and satisfies taste buds with an essentially instantaneous result.
It is an object of the invention herein to provide a non-toxic method and composition for reducing or eliminating psychological hunger without side effects.
It is an object of the invention herein to provide a spray composition and method that can be easily used to reduce psychological hunger.
Other objects and advantages will be more fully apparent from the following disclosure and appended claims.